Dacmagic or Little Dot DAC

[crusaderlord]

Ok i am finally about to plunge into a the world of DAC's as part of an upgrade from the Arcam rDock, which i still really like, but move into the world of the Wadia 170i feeding into a DAC for improved streaming.

The Dacmagic gets most of the plaudits but being a big fan of the Little Dot III headphone amp i cant help but be tempted by their own DAC which works out a tad cheaper and both have it seems the same Wolfson 8740 chip (i know theres more to it than that).

Just interested if anyone has any comparative thoughts on these two.

 

[matengawhat]

have you bought the wadia yet? i have one and i am also getting the onkyo ns1 on monday - delivery permitting - so if you want to wait will let you know how they compare as could get both the onk and dac for price of wadia

i'd be keen to hear thoughts on the little dot dac if you get one

 

[crusaderlord]

no i havent bought the wadia yet and will await your verdict with interest. the onkyo would equally suit but i do quite like the style of the wadia at the moment.

equally there is a strong chance i will get the Little Dot given its match visually at least with the headphone amp so i will equally happily provide a view on this when the opportunity comes

 

[matengawhat]

i like the wadia but do feel its a larger than needed plastic box and connectors on back feel a little cheap especially the mains connector which is like the old svideo/computer mose connector but guess that prob goes for the onkyo as well - was interested to see what hi fi gave the onkyo best ipod dock think a few ppl going to buy it now not realising it needs a dac to work - really think they should be called something else

 

[manicm]

Hold on before you flog the rDock, which iPod do you have?

I'm extremely impressed by the rDock - but it's very much garbage in and garbage out - and in my first case, it was the iPod classic 120Gb - awful.

But but but, I've just paired it with the new iPod touch 64Gb - and it's superb - I'll go as far as to say it's made the CD section on my Arcam Solo Mini by and large redundant.

I'm using a Chord Cobra 3 interconnect, which may be overkill or not.

And lastly I rip AIFFs - so I'm not gonna get my whole collection there - but the sound makes it all worthwhile.

 

[RCduck7]

When you mentioned little i thought of this very cute thing...

http://www.devilsound.com/

Not very cheap but it has it's own interconnect.

 

[Dan Turner]

crusaderlord:Ok i am finally about to plunge into a the world of DAC's as part of an upgrade from the Arcam rDock, which i still really like, but move into the world of the Wadia 170i feeding into a DAC for improved streaming.The Dacmagic gets most of the plaudits but being a big fan of the Little Dot III headphone amp i cant help but be tempted by their own DAC which works out a tad cheaper and both have it seems the same Wolfson 8740 chip (i know theres more to it than that).Just interested if anyone has any comparative thoughts on these two.

Here's another option; the one I have gone for. Just get the DAC. Assuming you have the space (or for the reletively low cost of some additional storage) rip all your CDs uncompressed on to your computer (AIFF or WAV). Hook your computer up to the DAC. I guarantee that will beat your CD player for out and out sound quality, unless you have something truly high-end (I am currently selling my CD37 to fund the purchase of a MacBook Pro for this very reason!).

You can create a copy of your entire library in a compressed format, which you can maintain as a second library on iTunes that will fit on your iPod.

Best of all worlds I reckon. Save dosh, and only overhead is ripping new CDs twice - once for each library.

EDIT - sorry meant to say,if you have a laptop and want to be able to use it for other things, or it's a PC and isn't physically located near your hi-fi, you could get an apple airport express to stream the music wirelessly to your hi-fi (£80).

 

[crusaderlord]

Thanks for the input so far.

To clarify a few questions raised.

I have an itouch which is used with the dock - mainly for streaming radio paradise and spotify plus 50+ tracks i dont have on cd.

I dont intend to rip everything to replace cd as i love this as a medium - the dac set up is simply to improve streaming from internet sources really

I have sold the rdock - but thats no biggie as i may yet decide just to get the new irdock with remote and charging facility due out in November

I have no real complaints with the rdock apart from the charging issue - i was looking for another level which i am happy to take advice on if the streaming bit rates really wont be enough to warrant a dac set up

The Onkyo dac is a very good alternative to the wadia and if it matches up on quality is another option

Thanks again - particularly keen to hear opinions regarding dac influences on bit streaming rates

 

[crusaderlord]

The Arcam dock is however very good - i wonder to be honest if the whole listening improvement is simply more about the files and recording than introducing a DAC.

I may just go with the new irDock due out.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Dan Turner:
crusaderlord:Ok i am finally about to plunge into a the world of DAC's as part of an upgrade from the Arcam rDock, which i still really like, but move into the world of the Wadia 170i feeding into a DAC for improved streaming.The Dacmagic gets most of the plaudits but being a big fan of the Little Dot III headphone amp i cant help but be tempted by their own DAC which works out a tad cheaper and both have it seems the same Wolfson 8740 chip (i know theres more to it than that).Just interested if anyone has any comparative thoughts on these two.

Here's another option; the one I have gone for. Just get the DAC. Assuming you have the space (or for the reletively low cost of some additional storage) rip all your CDs uncompressed on to your computer (AIFF or WAV). Hook your computer up to the DAC. I guarantee that will beat your CD player for out and out sound quality, unless you have something truly high-end (I am currently selling my CD37 to fund the purchase of a MacBook Pro for this very reason!).

You can create a copy of your entire library in a compressed format, which you can maintain as a second library on iTunes that will fit on your iPod.

Best of all worlds I reckon. Save dosh, and only overhead is ripping new CDs twice - once for each library.

EDIT - sorry meant to say,if you have a laptop and want to be able to use it for other things, or it's a PC and isn't physically located near your hi-fi, you could get an apple airport express to stream the music wirelessly to your hi-fi (£80).

No need to rip again - he could convert the lossless files into 192kbps mp3s (for instance) and keep the original as well.

 

[matengawhat]

wadia / onkyo comparison

ok here goes - the onkyo looks pretty smart in silver and blends well with my silver ipod. Was a little bigger than thought was going to be and could do with some weight adding to it, weight to me means quality and this feels a little flimsy - the connections on the back feel solid and includes digital, optical, composite and usb connection - the onkyo comes with remote (although doesn't seem to skip up albums even though there is a button - my ipod needs updating so this could be corrected), mains leads, usb cable, optical cable and the yellow one for conneting to av amp ect No ipod inserts come with the onkyo so you will need to dig your old one out. The dock has a sliding tray to pull over the ipod connector to prevent dust

the usb connector is a nice touch and a button on top swaps between the two - it says you can synch ipod whilst in the dock although not tried yet but def a worthy adition also imagine you can plays tracks straight from computer using this but again not tried

ipod connects very quickly and is ready instantly - well now the important bit sound - there are no analogue outs so needs connecting to a dac using either optical or digital - i used digital as my dac has no optical in. It sounds far better as expected than any other dock that uses the internal ipod dac. The sounds is pretty tight and detailed and has weight and punch whilst reamining open no problems with the sound stage, personally think internal ipod dacs sound flat. Using my cdp player as a transport through same dac still edges it but not by much its very close. All in all a great product for the money and a steal at £150.

The wadia in comparison is also light, perfectly square and twice as thick - the wadia is rough to touch not smooth like the onkyo but probably beats it for style but personal choice. The connections on the wadia feel cheap to me and never liked the mains connector. The wadia came with digital cable, remote and mains lead. The remote is very cheap even though the one with the onkyo isn't much better but is better. From memory i think the wadia came with ipod inserts.

The wadia has both optical, digital and analogue outs - its has an internal dac but no computer connectivity, i have never tried the internal dac so can't comment. It also lacks any light to say whether its working or not. The sound between these two is even closer but going to hold judgement and will update this shortly as trying to get an identical digital cable as to me there seemed to be a difference in volume between the two which i wouldn't expect going through the same dac and the wadia seemed to sound a little more exciting but could be the cable/difference in volume as the only spare cable i had was a standard interconnect - if i can't get matching set with try the freebie out of the wadia box as seemed decent cable to be fair - not easy for me to swap the two over due to cabinet watch this space as need to do some more experimenting and have an in depth listening session.

Although to be honest at this moment in time i think the onkyo could be the better option at half the price and with the added computer connectivity is the one i would probably go for - would be keen to hear what hifi thoughts on the comparison.

please ask me if you have any direct questions and will try to answer

 

[crusaderlord]

Extremely interesting review - i would like an update on the direct sound comparison as thats what is the clincher i guess.

It sounds dissappointing that both dont really have the quality or solid finish in terms of the overall package. One thing i really did like about the rdock was the solid metal feel with strong connectors.

Sadly you wont be able to tell me how much better taking the digital feed is v the analogue Arcam.

Thanks for the input - it sounds like value wise the Onkyo has the edge v wadia.

 

[matengawhat]

i have two ipods but they have different music on them so need to make a few duplicates to try - but they are different generation so not sure if that will have an effect will have to try swapping them over also wondering if its possible for a transport/cable to effect the volume level? hopefully someone wiser than me can comment on that.

don't get me wrong, i was trying to pick faults - they are not going to break in your hand or anything - brought the onkyo upstairs and plugged into my arcam solo movie this time using optical - the sound is very encouraging but not sure if sometimes think its a bit forward and sometimes a bit bass heavy then again it could just be the fact they sound better than ever compared to old docks/cables need to spend sometime flicking between the two docks and the cdp

 

[crusaderlord]

WHF in their awards do say that the Onkyo is much better than any analogue dock.

I would be interested for someone from WHF to give a little more on this - how much of an upgrade in the Onkyo on a similar prices Arcam rdock for instance using say a Dacmagic priced DAC - is it marginal or very significant ?

 

[matengawhat]

i would say siginificant but guess depends on how good the dac is you're using. I had the arcam and thought the music was flat and lifeless in comparisson although that's from memory - to me ipod docks always needed a little treble lift - the fatman carbon mkII which i have i think is great as you can adjust both treble and bass and I find a few little tweeks on theses greatly improves the sound.

The onkyo last night connected to the dac in my solo movie was far better than plugging directly into the inputs